Quick: Trail Blazers' season could come down to whether Terry Stotts has an answer to help LaMarcus Aldridge

HOUSTON – The question of this intense and competitive series was plopped firmly in the lap of Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts on Wednesday.

Can Stotts find a way to counter the latest coaching move by Kevin McHale and create space, and shots, for LaMarcus Aldridge in a crucial Game 6 on Friday?

“That,’’ Aldridge said of the impending brainstorming session, “is what we have to figure out.’’

There is chatter that McHale needs to win this playoff series against the Trail Blazers to save his job.

On Wednesday, in a do-or-die Game 5 for Houston, he coached like it.

And because of it, the Rockets and McHale live another day.

In his third defensive strategy of the series against Aldridge, McHale finally found something that worked: sending Dwight Howard to double from the baseline immediately after Aldridge caught the ball. Combined with 7-footer Omer Asik, who has been guarding Aldridge extensively since Game 3, Aldridge was suffocated in a 7-foot sandwich.

“That was a different change for them, because they normally had not come so quickly,’’ Aldridge said. “They usually waited until I made a move, but (tonight) they came quick.’’

It didn’t help, too, that Aldridge had early foul trouble, going to the bench with two fouls just 6:26 into the game. When he returned, he said he could never get “in the flow of the game with the rest of the guys.’’

LaMarcus Aldridge on offensive struggles in Game 5LaMarcus Aldridge scored just 8 points in the 108-98 Game 5 loss to the Houston Rockets. He picked up two fouls early in the first quarter and never found his rhythm finishing just 3-12 from the field.

After averaging 35.3 points through the first four games, Aldridge had eight in Game 5, making just 3-of-12 shots.

So how does Stotts counter Houston’s double dose of 7-footers, which will certainly come into play in Friday’s Game 6 in Portland?

“I don’t know if it was necessarily their defense,’’ Stotts said of Aldridge’s off night. “But give Houston credit: they played hard. We’ll look at the video and see where we can get better.’’

Stotts is widely considered an innovative and creative offensive coach. And he was mentored by Rick Carlisle in Dallas, who is one of the best and boldest tacticians.

One of the reasons Dirk Nowitzki ascended from perennial All-Star to superstar in Dallas was Stotts’ offense, which gave Nowitzki great freedom to attack from different areas of the floor.

We are seeing the same evolution with Aldridge under Stotts, a perennial All-Star now trending toward superstardom by way of a open offense predicated on freedom and ball movement. But here, in the season’s biggest game, Aldridge needs one more boost from Stotts.

Find him space. Get him shots. And/or create options to expose Howard for leaving Robin Lopez.

Stotts has been associated with some pretty heady moves. In 2011 NBA Finals, he collaborated with Carlisle to start JJ Barea in place of DeShawn Stevenson in order to create better spacing for Nowitzki to operate.

He doesn’t need that drastic of a move in Game 6, but it was clear Wednesday that Aldridge was out of his comfort zone, unable to get himself in a groove. Foul trouble or not, there’s no way Aldridge should have taken only 12 shots.

Part of that is on Aldridge. After such growth in his game this season, both mentally and physically, this is no time to see him revert back to being timid and becoming confused by defensive wrinkles.

Friday’s game will be the 10th of the season between Portland and Houston. By now, there are no secrets between them. But as evidenced by Game 5, there can be little wrinkles that disrupt rhythm, or cause momentary confusion, even if it’s for a handful of possessions.

Do Stotts and Aldridge have their own wrinkle to counter McHale? Game 6 could depend on it.

“Guys made plays and we had an opportunity,’’ Aldridge said. “We almost won.’’

Imagine what would have happened if he didn’t have his second-lowest scoring output of the season. Imagine if McHale’s move didn’t cause so much disruption.